San Francisco News Blog

The San Francisco Transportation Authority has introduced a new iPhone app, CycleTracks, that lets users inform the agency how they get about the city day to day -- information that will make its way into designing San Francisco's evolving bike network. According to the TA (no, not that T&A, you perv) Web site:

CycleTracks uses your iPhone's GPS support to record your bicycle trips, display maps of your rides, and help transportation planners make San Francisco a better place to bike. At the end of each trip, data representing your trip purpose, route, and the date and time are sent to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (all data will be kept confidential). By using CycleTracks, you'll be helping San Francisco's transportation planners better understand the needs of cyclists--and you'll get to see maps and statistics of your rides.

Imagine, a city bicycle network that follows your every move!

© California Academy of Sciences

The Franciscan Manzanita

​The other day we reported on the apparent discovery of a Franciscan Manzanita in the Presidio -- the first wild specimen of the native San Franciscan plant spotted since 1947. But, in a development that appears to be ironic -- without any mention of diabetics being flattened by insulin trucks -- the manzanita is smackdab in the middle of the planned route for the billion-dollar Doyle Drive redesign. 

According to Al Donner, an assistant regional supervisor with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, a consortium has been cobbled together to decide what comes next. Representatives from the Presidio Trust, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fish and Wildlife, and expert botanists have a couple of weeks to bang out a conservation plan. Is it within the group's power to tell Caltrans to make costly and time-draining changes to the revamp of the state's most dangerous highway to save a single bush? Donner isn't sure -- but a member of the group told us it can. And yet, that group member also told SF Weekly that moving the roadway doesn't appear to be the route being taken with regards to saving the Franciscan Manzanita.

"The current location of the plant is a place where, even if you left it there, it's not really likely to become a functional population over time," said the group member, who insisted on speaking anonymously. "The goal should be the long-term persistence of the plant. Ideally, the recovery of the plant will involve essentially making it part of a population."

In short, many cuttings need to be taken of the bush and planted elsewhere, and an attempt needs to be made to replant the Franciscan Manzanita (this will be a risky maneuver). This is also the route favored by Professor Tom Parker of San Francisco State, one of the state's foremost experts on manzanitas. "I would rather see it moved to a place where it's protected better and plant more individuals next to it and basically start a population of them," he says. "There are a couple of different individuals in cultivation in botanic gardens. So it makes a lot more sense to me to restore a population into the wild rather than save a single individual in a place you can't really do that."

More than 20 cars have been burned this month in the East Bay, and, closer to home, more than a dozen were lit ablaze over the summer here in San Francisco. Meanwhile, only a day before this morning's fires, a car went up in flames in the Sunset/Parkside neighborhood.

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***MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM'S SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC EVENTS FOR Thursday, NOVEMBER 19, 2009***

The mayor has no public events scheduled. He will be hiking the Appalachian trail.  
                                  
              Note: Mayor's schedule and whereabouts are subject to change.

Welcome to San Francisco, the most (adjective) __________ city in the world. If you've got money and you're willing to (action verb) ________ it, and (same verb) _______ with abandon, come here. We need you to. Please. We don't know how to do anything else but take your money.

Most newcomers to our city (verb)  _______ at San Francisco Airport. Others may (verb)  _______ at the Greyhound terminal or take a break from searching for (something you don't want your mom to see) _______ on the Internet -- I mean, really nasty stuff, like (person in the room)  _______ and (San Francisco celebrity)  _______ with power tools and corn dogs, and caulking tape -- to find a ride on Craigslist. Welcome to you all!

Getting around San Francisco is easy -- you just need an incredibly high pain tolerance, absolutely no hard deadlines on your arrival times, and no sense of smell. Or, you could drive -- but this is getting harder and harder as some _________ (derogatory name) keeps ________ (verb followed by -ing) _______ all the cars. So, we'll introduce you to San Francisco's citywide pastime -- complaining about Muni. Getting (verb, past tense)  _______ by a bus is something of a cottage industry here. But it may be preferable to sitting on a seat with (fluid) _______ left behind to ferment. Please don't chat up the man with his pants on backwards yodeling off-key R. Kelly songs. If he loses concentration, he'll (violent verb)  _______ the bus.
 

Newsom -- and his right-hand men -- won our praise for thinking of the best name in the league (The Barbary Coast Bombers) and coming up with cool, city-related imagery for the team's Web page. But style is easier to master than substance.

Career-wise, this has worked out to be the winter of Newsom's discontent. In addition to his setbacks on the local, state, and national political stage, the city teetering on a financial abyss, and Chris Daly leaving that flaming bag of shit on the Newsoms' front porch -- The Barbary Coast Bombers have dropped three straight games.

The department showed little mercy for the Mission's favorite scofflaw -- the bar was ordered closed in April. Today's Appeals Board meeting was Murad's last chance to keep it open. But both parties apparently requested to postpone the item, and the board rescheduled for Dec. 16. Which meant that tonight's meeting hall quickly cleared out of Medjool supporters and haters alike.

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The column asked: How could a toxic-waste dumper be stamped officially green? Isn't that taxpayer-funded greenwashing?

In response to our inquiry, (but after our deadline) Sushma Dhulipala Bhatia, who directs the city's Green Business program, kindly investigated the matter, and offered some insight into how a major toxic waste dumper might become an officially designated local green business.

The designation was based in part on the fact Sims didn't use toxic chemicals to clean up the San Francisco pier they where collect recyclables, and that the company made sure wastewater at that pier didn't spill into the bay, Dhulipala Bhatia reported.

To our minds, this is kind of like Typhoid Mary earning a health and safety award for washing her hands after going to the bathroom.

But we'll let Dhulipala Bhatia speak for herself. Here's the e-mail we received from her:

​Is the school lottery-system one of the reasons S.F. has more pups than kids? [City Insider]

Muni shelters go defunct before route and riders are left in the cold. [Akit's Complaint Department]

Liveblogging the U.C. Berekeley strike. [Daily Cal]

Photo: Define "anything." [We Built This City]

Slapping a layer of New York on S.F. will solve all the city's problems! [Burrito Justice]

On-street stormwater facilities coming to two locations in S.F. [Streetsblog]

Having a mayor acting a little bit loopy is an interesting novelty for a while, just as it was to have a former action star or pro wrestler serving as a state governor. But, barring Ed McMahon heading to City Hall and handing stunned city controller Ben Rosenfeld an oversize check, this city is in dire financial straits right now. And this kind of political theater begins to lose its charm when people begin to throw around terms like "insolvency," and "deficit" while coupling them with figures exceeding $50 million.

That's why it's a mistake to think the media is giving Newsom a hard time over his self-imposed press blackout because we feel threatened. Rather, we feel a bit cheated. This is a mayor whose critics -- with some merit -- have accused him of governing by press release. When you take the press releases away, well, then what? Newsom's not saying. And as for the notion that the mayor is now going "directly to the people" -- this is an awesomely half-baked concept. As if globetrotting, gadabout Gavin Newsom needed more ways to resemble "Where's Waldo," now he's randomly popping up at receptions, open mic nights, and, for all we know, keggers at S.F. State.

"Even if he's licking his wounds after the gubernatorial race, Newsom can still give the appearance of running the show -- and he's not," one veteran political consultant told us. "This not talking to the press is just not good." Added another: "In bad times, sometimes the most valuable thing an elected official can provide is that ephemeral quality called leadership."